Composition for bleaching hair



2,991,228 'COMPOSITIQN; FOR BLEACHJNG HAIR B'emarrlg-Lustig', Stamford; Conn assignorato' Lawrence Ri'chard Bruce Incorporated; Stamford, "Connc, a :co'rporatior'i ofifConnecticut No-Dra gdMa 91531 9: .1 9 Claims. (Cl. 161 815),

adsorbent powders of the type generally known as --white.

henna or modified white henna to form a. pastewor. creamcwhich, when applied to the living hair, possessesthe advantage. of staying put in relation to the, strands ofhair within-the zone; of application: The base of. such adsorbent powders. is generally magnesium carbonate. or a mixture; of magnesium carbonate andmagfiesiumox: ide, which sometimes has admixed therewith allgalizingagents, salts of: peracids, surface active agents, thickeners and the like; the alkalizing.;agent: generally is; moniumsalt; although ammonia may be added as; such to the aqueous peroxiderrather than beingapartof the aforesaid powder.

Since in professional application a reasonably fast bleaching. action; is. desirable, attempts have in the past been made. to. increase or. intensify the. bleaching; action of such pastes or creams, or. rather the peroxides therein, by the addition, as1an1elementofthefpaste'or cream,; of various metal salts, such as the sulfates, acetates; and chlorides of iron, copper, and cobalt, or the like: The reactivity developed by a paste so constituted, instead of increasing, actually decreased the bleachingaction; the effect of the: aforesaid metal salts: being rather to induce a rapid decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide with a:development'of oxygen. This latter. factorhas rendered suchprocedures inelfectivev and objectionable,- since the oxygen so developed, inthe nature of numerous progressively developing heterogeneously. distributed large bubbles increasesthe pufliness of the. paste or cream,.causing the same to migrate to parts of the hair beyond the zone intendedltobelbleached, andin theiend; the addition of metal salts aforesaid, has resulted in. a lowering andunevenness of the bleaching effect imparted to the hair in the'treatment zone, and has, more; often than not, increased damage to the hair, both in the: zone and contiguous to the zone of. application; all of which has resulted in the abandonment of such'procedures.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for an increasingly effective and. homogeneous bleaching action on the-hair of the hydrogen peroxide ina paste or cream of the white henna or modified white henna type, which, in a reasonably fast reaction avoids any objectionable degree of peroxide decomposition and bubble-"evolution of oxygen, while,.at:the same-time, and without damaging the hair, eliminates the formation of undesired yellow or red tinge to thehair normally developed in bleach as processes of the classical type, or known modifications thereof.

I have found that by adding to the white henna or modified white henna powder base of the classical type aforesaid, certain metal phthalocyanines in the category later defined, and of the extremely fine particle size within the range later defined, all inconjunction with aperoxide in solution that, by. virtue of what 1 believeto'bea D United States Patent lice 2% result of catalytic action; of-such metal phthalocyanines, a progressive and homogeneous bleaching'etfect is developed far beyond that attained in accordance with the classical methods, and.this is accompanied by a substantial elimination of the yellow and red tinges in the treated hair, a. minimization of liberation of oxygen in the form of bubbles, avoidance of migration of the paste from the zone of application, and minimization of hair damage.

I have found further that, by use of'the metal phthalocyanines of the natureand in the size indicated that a pleasing substantially blue coloration is imparted to the paste or cream, upon the admixture of an aqueous hydrogenperoxide solution to the. powder, and that the pleasing-bluecoloration remains substantially unchanged throughout the bleaching action.

Although there are numerous metal phthalocyanines, I have-found that only those metal complexes of the'metals" withthe atomic numbers 27 to 30 perform well; they.

have littleor no'cata lase effect. (i.e; .do not substantiallydecompose hydrogen-peroxide), they have sufficient stability to be formed intofine dispersions by the so-c-alled acid pasting process, and they have the properties of effectively increasing the bleaching eifect of the aqueous peroxide in the classical paste or cream aforementioned.

I have also found that in connection with such phthalocyanine complexes of the metals selected from the group copper, cobalt, nickel, and zinc, that the benzene nuclei thereof may be substituted by a small number of chlorine atoms to produce the same elfectg'the degree of substitution being such that it should not produce in any of the substituted complexes a pronounced green shade. The benzene nuclei may also be substituted by sulfonic acid derivatives, Particularly, since the salts of the same. have a desirable solubility in aqueous solution.

0f the aboye. phthalocyanines, and primarily because. of its low cost and commercial availability. copper phthal ocyanine is preferred.

The amountof the above phthalocyanines to be added to the adsorbent powder mix to form with the aqueous peroxide solution the desired effective paste or cream, may vary Within relatively Wide limits, but generally, rather small amounts thereof, such'ass.0l% to 1% of the total weight of the. other componentsof' the powder mix is found to provide optimum results. However, larger amounts up to 10% by! weight'ofthe above phthalocyanines in the grouping hereinabove defined may be used, but it has beenfound that" the performance and effectiveness of the paste is not improved sufiiciently beyondthat, eflectuated by the lower range in amount. of. the phthalocyaninesv to warrant the increasein material cost.

Thedegreeof dispersion, i.e. the; ultimate particle-size of the phthalocyanines of the group'herein involved is preferably that within the range of zero plus to about 5 microns for optimum bleaching efiect, although I have found that-the particle size up to 2.0 microns is satisfactory.

Upon addition of hydrogen peroxide in the form of a 3% to 12% byweight solution to the classical powder mix incorporating phthalocyanines of the group and of the particle size indicated, there is formed a blue colored paste or cream which retains its coloration during and throughout the apphcation thereof to the hair. Compared to a paste or cream'of the classical type, the presence of the phthalocyanine of the group specified in the particle size indicated produces a much stronger and even bleaching action without damaging the hair and. without leaving a yellow or red tinge thereon.

While a very slow decomposition ofhydrogen peroxide-v can'never be entirely avoided, the composition incorpo- Batented; J uly 4, 1

ratingthe pnthalocyanines herein utilized develop only a minute amount of fine bubbles with absence of pufiiness and migration of the paste or cream.

The chemical formula of certain phthalocyanines referred to in the illustrative examples are as follows:

Copper phthalocyanine (Heliogen Blue BWSN) N N l 7 Y N am &N) 1

Disulphonate copper phthalocyanine (Heliogen Blue SB LA) referred to in volume 3; page 3570 of Color Index under #74180 and is called 'CI Direct Blue 86 and quoted at the right under the trademark Heliogen Blue SBLA where the letter A means American source.

Sulphonated cobalt phthalocyanine (Veranthrene Brilliant Blue 4G) referred to in Color Index as 74140, volume 3, page 3570. It is a trademark product of the Bayer Company of Germany, The invention is illustrated by the following examples, in which parts are given by weight.

Example I The adsorbent powder mix used consisted of 100 parts ofmagnesium carbonate U.S.P. light, 200 parts magnesium oxide U.S.P. light, 100 parts potassium persulfate and 35,parts ammonium sulfate. To 100 parts of this mixture, there was added 0.5 part of copper phthalocyanine, particle size up to 5 micron, known in the trade as Heliogen Blue BWSN. One part of this powder was mixed with 3 parts 6% by weight hydrogen peroxide to form a blue pigmented paste or cream. The bleaching action on human grey hair and also permanently waved hair was observed after /2 hour, 1 hour and 2 hours, and compared with the bleaching action of the same paste prepared without addition of the phthalocyanine, the bleachlng action of the phthalocyanine containing cream was Example 2 The procedure of Example 1 was followed substituting for the finely divided water dispersible copper phthalocyanine aforesaid, a partially sulfonated cobalt phthalocyconspicuously greater, no migration of the paste occurred, 1175 anine known in the trade as Veranthrene Brilliant Blue 46. The bleaching results were similar to those above specified in Example 1.

Example 3 Example 4 The procedures of Examples 1, 2 and 3 were followed substituting for the powder mix disclosed in Example 1 a commercial powder mix of a modified white henna the gravimetric proportion of the constituents of which were not ascertained, except that qualitatively essentially the magnesium carbonate and magnesium oxide were present, together with variations in the additives aforementioned as being applied in the classical formulation outlined in the introduction to the specification. Also in this case the bleaching action was increased to the same degree as inExamples 1, 2 and 3.

Although no specific illustration has ben given for derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by chlorine instead of by sulfonic group, such compositions are well known in the art.

While specific embodiments of this invention have been described in detail, to illustrate, the application of the invention principle, it will 'be understod that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. As a composition of matter a powder for use in conjunction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .01% and 10% of a phthalocyanine of ultimate particle size from 0+ and 20 microns selected from the group of phthalocyanine complexes of the metals copper, cobalt; nickel, zinc, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by sulfonic groups, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by chlorine.

2. As a composition of matter a powder for use in conjunction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .0l% and 1% of a phthalocyanine selected from the group of phthalocyanine complexes of the metals copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by sulfonic groups, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by chlorine, said phthalocyanine complex being present as particles of size 0+ to 20 microns 3. As a composition of matter a powder for use in conjunction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, :said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .01% and 1% of copper phthalocyanine of ultimate particle size from 0+ and 20 microns.

4. As acomposition of matter a powder for use in junction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a '5 paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .0l% and 1% of a copper phthalocyanine sulfonic acid as particles of size 0+ to 20 microns.

5. As a composition of matter a powder for use in conjunction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a blue pigmented paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .01% and 10% of copper phthalocyanine as particles of size 0+ to 20 microns, the blue color of the pigmented paste remaining substantially unchanged during the bleaching of the hair.

6. As a composition of matter a powder for use in conjunction with aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a paste with increased bleaching action on living human hair, said powder containing at least one of the group consisting of insoluble magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate in preponderance and between .01% and 1% of a partialy sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine as particles of size 0+ to 20 microns.

7. A method of increasing the bleaching action on human hair of aqueous hydrogen peroxide which comprises intermixing with the aqueous hydrogen peroxide to form a paste, a powder composition containing a preponderance of at least one of the group consisting of water insoluble magnesium carbonate and magnesium oxide and between 1% to 10% of phthalocyanine of particle size 0+ to 20 microns selected from the group of phthalocyanine complexes of the metals copper, cobalt, nickel, and zinc, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by sulfonic groups, and their derivatives substituted in the benzene nuclei by chlorine.

8. A method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the phthalocyanine is copper phthalocyanine in the proportion of 01% to 1% of the powder composition.

9. A method in accordance with claim 8 wherein the powder composition additionally incorporates potassium persulphate and ammonium sulphate.

References Cited in the file of this patent Lubs: Chemistry of Synthetic Dyes and Pigments, Reinhold Pub. Corp., NY. (1955), pp. 577-624, esp. at pp. 582-3 and 608-609.

Harry: Modern Cosmeticology, 4th ed., Leonard Hill Ltd., London (1955), p. 498 relied upon.

Merck Index, 5th Ed., Merck and Co., Rahway, New Jersey (1940), p. 328.

Haddock: I. Society Dyers and Colorists, March 1945, pp. 68-73.

Sagarine: Cosmetics, Science and Technology, Interscience Pub., Inc., N.Y. (1957), pp. 482-3. 

7. A METHOD OF INCREASING THE BLEACHING ACTION ON HUMAN HAIR OF AQUEOUS HYDROGEN PEROXIDE WHICH COMPRISES INTERMIXING WITH THE AQUEOUS HYDROGEN PEROXIDE TO FORM A PASTE, A POWDER COMPOSITION CONTAINING A PREPONDERANCE OF AT LEAST ONE OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF WATER INSOLUBLE MAGNESIUM CARBONATE AND MAGNESIUM OXIDE AND BETWEEN 1% TO 10% OF PHTHALOCYANINE OF PARTICLE SIZE 0+ TO 20 MICRONS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP OF PHTHALOCYANINE COMPLEXES OF THE METALS COPPER, COBALT, NICKEL, AND ZINC, AND THEIR DERIVATIVES SUBTITUTED IN THE BENZENE NUCLEI BY SULFONIC GROUPS, AND THEIR DERIVATIES SUBSTITUTED IN THE BENZENE NUCLEI BY CHLORINE. 